Turning the tables on unsustainable furniture

11 January 2019 Sustainable construction

In his recently launched furniture company Oak and Hide, joiner Ben McGreevy re-imagines flat-pack furniture. 

Based in Brisbane, Australia, he uses locally sourced Australian Hoop Pine to craft furniture that will be ingeniously flat-packed for delivery but will out-live cheaper flat-packed products by decades.

Even better, Ben’s furniture doesn’t require any tools to assemble. With a desktop Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine, he creates timber joinery with pinpoint accuracy that is not possible to achieve by hand.

Committed to the craft

The Oak and Hide coffee table is Ben’s flagship product, borne out of his frustration with flat-packed furniture.

It features a clean, simple design with strong joints. “Even though I have probably assembled and disassembled this piece more than 50 times, I still enjoy slotting the pieces together,” he explains.

Despite studying mechanical engineering, Ben was drawn to wood work.

“It’s fair to say I caught the woodworking bug. There’s something special about making products from timber with every piece having a unique grain, different textures, smells and behaviours. It’s just a great feeling when you make something that looks great and also has a purpose”.

An ethical choice

Ben sets his work apart from competitors by remaining staunchly committed to using sustainable timber. For his coffee table, he chose Australian Hoop Pine with the certificate of Responsible Wood, our national member for Australia.

“For me, it’s an ethical choice but other people take an interest in the fact that I only use sustainable timber and fully support its use,” Ben explains.

PEFC/Responsible Wood certification gives the timber industry and its end users peace of mind about the origins of the timber and the way in which it has been managed.